Episode 1 Jordan Weber with John Peterson

Works in Progress

Artist Jordan Weber joins us in the ArtLab studio to discuss race, identity, design of the built environment and art-making in historically white spaces. Employing slick black obsidian stone and chrome rims, Weber’s sculpture entitled Perennial Philosophies was recently installed outside the ArtLab. For the artist, it evokes a dark “sea we must wade,'' a line from poet Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem “The Hill We Must Climb”. A section of Gorman’s poem is included in this sculpture as a memorial to the social upheaval of the summer of 2021. We sat down with Jordan to discuss the halfway point of his year-long Loeb/ArtLab Fellowship at Harvard where he is using utilitarian materials to produce sculptures, and social spaces that speak to ways in which racially oppressed people are physically restricted. We are also joined in the studio by John Peterson, Curator of the Loeb Fellowship at the Graduate School of Design; Director of the ArtLab, Bree Edwards and co-host Harvard College sophomore, Kristian Hardy.

Link to Jordan’s residency page on the ArtLab website: https://artlab.harvard.edu/jordan-weber-0

Link to Perennial Philosophies: https://artlab.harvard.edu/event/new-sculpture-jordan-weber

Other projects by Jordan: http://jordanjweber.com/

Link to John’s Biography: https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/person/john-peterson/

Link to the Loeb Fellowship website: https://loebfellowship.gsd.harvard.edu/

Link to Kristian Hardy’s biography: https://artlab.harvard.edu/people/kristian-hardy

Works in Progress is recorded and produced in the Mead Production Lab, located on the traditional territory of the Massachusetts people, the original inhabitants of what is now known as Boston and Cambridge. The show is hosted by Bree Edwards and Kristian Hardy, engineered by Kat Nakaji, edited by Jemma Byrne, and produced by the ArtLab at Harvard University with help from Thinkubator Media. Theme music by Kicktracks and Gvidon.

For more information about the show, the ArtLab, and the artists featured, visit artlab.harvard.edu. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram by searching ArtLab at Harvard.